I Don't Need To Say Those Three Words
by TheSilverWisp
Summary: Loke and Natsu made a bet concerning Lucy's possessions. Nothing wrong with that sentence, right?


Dedicated to a certain _Marshmallow Ninja _and to all NaLu fans.

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><p><em>I don't need to say those three words, you already know them.<em>

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><p>Lucy was on her way to Fairy Tail, her blonde tresses bouncing up and down as she skipped from time to time as she walked. The blonde hummed a sweet melody encasing her lips as it reached her ears, her chocolate brown eyes dancing. Today was a good day. (So far.)<p>

When she woke up in the wee hours of the morning, it was... quiet. No one had barged in her home last night! Yes, she actually had time for peace and quiet by herself in her own home without anyone to disturb the cozy atmosphere. Just how she liked it. After taking a one-hour bath and getting pampered with hot, running water, slipping into her usual outfit which comprised of her white-and-blue blouse, a short skirt, her boots, and her signature mini-ponytail swept up into one side with a stroke of a brush and tied it with her bright blue ribbon, she was all set to go to the guild.

However, as she continued to stroll through the city of Magnolia with her footwear clacking against the stony road, she began to feel a slight discomfort with all of this. A tiny part of her had a thought: "I miss it when he's intruding in my home. He made things lively there, and..."

The key-user shook off the last thought. She didn't want to be overwhelmed by the hidden feminine part of her that would absolutely enjoy his company. Nope. She most certainly did not want to think of that. Why? Because they were nakama. Nakamas did not feel that way towards each other, because it was wrong! Definitely, for sure that Lucy was messed up for thinking of such a thing! Even if it was _him, _it didn't mean that he was an exception. Just because she happened to have felt something these last few days...

Just thinking about how she had noticed the fast motion of her heartbeat, it changes its pattern from _ka-thump ka-thump _to _doki doki doki.  
><em>

How conscious she was for even assuming that her blood rushed to a red color on her cheeks. It was not easy for her to acknowledge such emotions when they were just friends. At least, that's what she had thought.

But nonetheless, she couldn't help but admit that she _did_ miss him. For someone as dense as him, he wouldn't be able to misinterpret it like that. Nope, he's too dense. That's what she thought as she opened the entrance to the guild.

"Hey, why's there no fighting today?" she said aloud, catching the attention of an Ice Mage (and a Water Mage who was stalki- er, following from behind.).

_No fighting. _A cold feeling made its way down the sensitivity of her spine. She brushed her arms to exclaim she was shivering, along with making her legs grow slightly unstable from the wooden floor. _Why do I feel so uneasy?_

Meanwhile, Gray, who brushed off the feeling that someone was _indeed_ following him from behind took his shirt off in a matter of milliseconds before responding to the Celestial Wizard's unanswered question. "That's because flame brain's nowhere to be seen," he responded.

"Really? Natsu's not here?" Well, that did make sense, Lucy concluded. The Dragonslayer was usually behind all of the fistfights, on account of his uncontrollable temper. He would take it out on either Gray or Gajeel first, or maybe the two of them together, and the rest, Elfman, Wakaba, Macao, and company, would follow, thus, throwing the guild into a destructive battlefield.

Lucy glanced around the area, noticing that some men were quite disgruntled, while others were full of relieved faces that they could rest their old bones. And the women? They were celebrating.

No brawls meant that there was no way they could get hurt, and they could enjoy a rare day of relaxation.

Lucy noticed that confetti were sprawled on the ground, red, yellow, blue purple, orange and much more festive colors down on the wooden floor. A huge sign pinned from the beams of the ceiling read in big, cursive letters: _A Day Of Relaxation! No fights = Celebrating!_

Cana was drinking her usual amount of ginger ale (which was a full barrel) and gulped her first one down in a matter of minutes. A cheer rose up from the girls gathering around her. The men had the mistake of letting out a low groan, and girls had immediately sent daggers, knives, and swords in their direction. They gulped and looked away before their piercing gaze reached their eyes, and went on with plastering a bored look on each of the male individual faces.

"I don't mind this festivity and all, but this is just too much," Gray muttered.

Lucy nodded to show that she was agreeing. This was too much. She actually preferred it when it was a battlefield with a ninety percent chance that she wouldn't have been able to make it out alive. She pitied the men, never have seeing the disheartened expression they had when they furrowed their brows, and the color of their faces seemed to be draining away their life force.

"Hey, Lucy!" Erza's sharp voice rang in her ears. She turned, and sure enough the Titania was heading towards her direction, though rather sloppily with the way her knees were bent whenever she took a step forward. _She must have drank too much._

Lucy raised her hand rather hesitantly and waved daintily. "Hi Erza. Have you been drinking?" She croaked out a nervous laugh as she neared her.

"Nope. Been eating pastries," the redhead announced nonchalantly. She sighed, and put a hand over Lucy's womanly shoulders. "Lots and lots of pastries."

"R-really?" Lucy whimpered, looking at Gray for support, but right at that moment he had his back turned against her.

"Coward," she wanted to call out, but she wanted to be very delicate with Erza. Very delicate.

"How many have you been eating?"

Erza shrugged. "I don't know, maybe fifteen cake rolls, three orange tarts, ten chocolate cakes, and eight strawberry pies?"

Lucy sighed. Typical Erza to eat that much and counting but never gain any weight in the process. Lucy envied her speedy metabolism.

She flipped her scarlet tresses away and smiled ever so humanly that Lucy didn't feel like escaping. "No fights today, that's good. Master Makarov can rest easy."

"Yeah, you're right," Lucy agreed. Well, it was true. Despite the fact that the men were cowering in fear because of the absence of the cause of the usual destruction and were currently overruled by the women, at least their master had some breathing space.

Wrong!

She spotted Makarov sitting next to Gajeel like a heap of dirty laundry on the floor. His short, frail arms spreading out on the table. He looked as drained as much as most of the guys. The Iron Dragonslayer himself was just as bad. And that was a first.

"Poor, guys," she mumbled.

"No kidding," a sky blue Exceed commented, his wings spreading as he glided and drifted towards Lucy's direction.

"Happy!"

She was so glad to see him! He was Natsu's best friend after all, and they usually did things together. Maybe Happy could tell her where said dragonslayer was, taking note that he wasn't there to mope like the other guys.

"Luigi!"

The blonde felt a vein pop in her head. "Hey!" she fumed.

"I'm just joking, Lucy," Happy said and flew around her in circles. The flapping of his winds sent Lucy a cool breeze around her upper torso.

"Do you know where Natsu is? He's not in the guild," Lucy asked the Exceed.

"That explains the serenity in the guild," Happy noted.

"Yeah, so could you tell me where he is?"

Happy's big eyes grew slitted. "You lllliiiiiiiikkkkee him," he snickered.

"No, I don't!" she retorted and then proceeded to pout. "I just thought it was strange for the two of you not crashing at my place."

"Lucy, are you a moron?" Happy asked, whiskers twitching. "He's there right now. With Loke."

"What?" Lucy screeched. She made her way to grab the case holder for her keys. They chinked and clanged as she checked Virgo, Plue, Aries... no Leo.

"I can't believe he went out without telling me." Lucy let out an exasperated sigh.

"I think you're pretty lame if you can't even get a hold of your own keys. What kind of an irresponsible person has no idea where her Celestial Spirits are?" Happy went on, making the said irresponsible person grow red with anger.

"Hey, don't blame me, you annoying cat, Loke likes going off on his own!" Lucy argued.

"Now I know you're absolutely know you're dumb. Shouldn't you be worried about something else, much, _much _more significant?" Happy pressed.

"Huh?" That's when it hit her. Lucy felt like fainting. This was so wrong in so many ways she couldn't muster enough of her time to whip up the possibilities. Loke was with Natsu. In her apartment. The nerve!

"I'm so going to kill them," she announced, her voice dangerously low.

"You can't kill a Celestial Spirit, moron."

"Shut it, annoying cat!" Lucy snapped.

With a "Harumph!", the bodacious woman turned to leave, en route her house, with her golden locks rippling as she went. Her feet echoed against the floor, going unnoticed by the celebrating women and the gloomy men.

No matter how much hostility had deepened, a trigger of suspicion had erupted in her mind. She wanted to know the reason why the King of The Zodiacs had left her hands to talk with the Fire Dragonslayer. Curiosity and a tad bit of determination welled up inside of her. She was going to get her questions answered. And she wanted them whether they liked it or not.

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><p>As she neared the door to her house, she heard someone let out a scream of bewilderment. Natsu's probably?<p>

Seeing that she had no possible idea of what was going on, given her drive to murder the people intruding in her home without permission, she decided to peep at the scenario through one of the windows. She pressed her face on the glass material, catching a glimpse of spiky, pink hair. Yep, it was Natsu. From her angle, she could see her disobedient Celestial Spirit, Loke, in all his tuxedo glory as he held out a pair of... wait. Were those Lucy's?

"No way am I going to do it if you wager something like _that_!" she heard Natsu retort and pointed his finger at what Loke was holding.

Lucy let her shoulders sag like a sack of heavy potatoes. There was no way this was happening. Loke was not exposing her clothes, more specifically, her clothes that were not supposed to be viewed by the public eye. Especially not Natsu's! Mavis, _especially _Natsu.

Loke smirked. "Fine, then I presume you prefer something more... _strawberry-related?_"

Natsu coughed, and Lucy swore she saw a faint color rushing to his cheeks. But that was making no sense. Wait, Loke going out from the Spirit World just to meet up with Natsu in her apartment and for him to (rudely) show her possessions (very, _very _private possessions) to Natsu was making no sense at all. Not even in the slightest.

Not to mention that they just committed a serious crime that Lucy was going to make sure that they were punishable enough by law.

"No! I'm not interested in her stuff. Wager something more worth of my time, or else I'm not even doing this," Natsu said.

Okay, barging in without the owner herself in the house was one thing, but saying that he didn't even take a slightest hoot about her things? Ouch.

_Wait, what? _Lucy slapped herself. There was no time to think about that!

Loke didn't flinch. He took a step further and then dropped Lucy's clothing on one of the chairs. "I'm just kidding, you know. There's no way I'd actually wager my master's belongings."

_Really now? You were so serious about selling out my stuff to him a while ago!_

"Then what do I get if I do it?" Natsu asked, his onyx eyes sparking with interest.

Loke grinned as he adjusted the rim of his black sunglasses. "Nothing, really."

"What? Then why'd you bring me out here in her apartment while me and Happy were dozing off?" Natsu prompted, his eyes burning, obviously annoyed.

"Because," Loke straightened his throat. "What's a better thing to wager than proving your courage? If you can't do this, Natsu, then there's no way that we can call you the bravest of the brave. Even Jet and Droy would be one step ahead of you. Guildarts dated quite a number of girls in his age too." Loke shrugged. "But if you don't want to do this, then I guess I'll spread word to Gray and Gajeel to entitle you, 'King of The Chickens"."

Wait, dating?

Meanwhile, burning flames colored with orange, red, and yellow, just like the sunset, had ignited on his knuckles. His eyes grew steely. "I am not a chicken, damn it all, I'm the bravest of the brave! Just you wait, almighty leader of the Zodiacs, I'm making it something that she won't ever forget!"

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><p><em>I'm making it something that she won't ever forget.<em>

Lucy pondered at that from time to time as she walked back to the guild, and entered. The festive celebration was for all the women to cheer, excluding her.

She tightened her grip on the handle of her mug full of chocolate. Warm cocoa, she needed it more than ever, but she didn't have the appetite to drink the warm, rich sensation that would reach her taste buds.

Natsu mentioned a she. As far as she could sum it up, Loke had went outside the Spirit World using his own magical powers and found Natsu and Happy dozing off. At that moment, Lucy probably would've went out at that time. When she entered the guild, Loke was already inside her house, slapped Natsu and Happy awake, or something like that, shooed Happy away while he and Natsu had a bet: Take insert-name-of-lucky-girl on a date, make sure she won't forget it, and Natsu'll be considered brave.

Was Loke trying to pull Natsu's leg? But then again, considering Natsu's level of human intelligence, it was expected for him to actually fall for it. Typical flame-brain.

But who was that girl? It couldn't be Lucy, could it? With the chances of one in a hundred. A sense of dread rose up. If... if it was really her, then that meant... Natsu was going to ask her out! Natsu would make it a night she would never forget! How wonderful! Wait, no! Dating? Dating nakamas? No way. If it was her, she should just refuse it plainly. _If _it was her.

The guild doors slammed open. Natsu was there. Speak of the devil.

The men rejoiced while the girls let out a disappointed groan.

He had a hardened expression on his face, as if he was rather focused on something. His gaze intensified as he eyed the girls, one by one. The guild went silent. It was almost nerve wrecking while he drifted his gaze off to Mira, then Wendy, then Levy, and then finally... her heartbeat changed its pattern_ (doki doki) _as he placed his gaze firmly on hers. Crap. She was dead.

His steps seemed to resound as he made his way to her, fists clenched.

Lucy gulped. Levy and Mira exchanged brave looks and playfully pushed her to him as he neared. Lucy swore to pay them back.

The guys looked in surprise as he placed his hands firmly on her shoulders. It wasn't so tight. His eyes twinkled as it met hers. And he was... blushing?

The impossible happened. Huh.

She felt her cheeks grow redder than Erza's hair. Happy's eyes grew ten times bigger its usual size.

Lucy didn't pay attention to her surroundings. To her, everyone and everything left in the guild was left behind as fading was just the two of them now.

She felt his hands tremble as he let out a shaky breath. "Go out with me."

Lucy blinked before she let her heart answer instead of her mind. "Yes."

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><p>They left the guild before any of Lucy's friends would erupt into cheers. The men were surprised, but mostly disappointed as Natsu left them to the hands of the wicked women, who were partying harder than ever.<p>

The cheers and wails had been as loud as a volcanic eruption when Natsu grabbed her hand and led them outside.

_I... I'm on a date with Natsu. _Lucy gushed inside her head as she walked beside him.

But, this was a bet. That could've meant that he didn't really feel anything towards her. She didn't want to explain that she had listened in on his and Loke's conversation, even if it was her house. She didn't want to see Natsu lose and be called a chicken just because he had no proper ability to date a girl.

But he did quite well with the asking sequence. Unto the next! Even if it did pain her that chances are, Natsu didn't return her feelings, (feelings which she never exploited) he was her nakama. And as his nakama, she would lend him a silent helping hand. Let her be the fool today. Just once.

"So," Natsu scratched his head despite her chest aching like mad. "how do we go out?"

Lucy went for a face palm right there and then. Still, it was expected that Natsu had no talent in the romantic field.

Lucy slipped her hand against his rough one. She beamed widely at him. "We have fun if we go out. So, any place in mind?"

Afternoon was slipping away. The sun would set soon and would bow to night.

"I know a spot where we could see the sunset," Natsu said.

They walked together as he told her about the highest view from where he watched the sunset from time to time. It was no surprise to Lucy that he led her to the stone bridge, made up with assorted rocks. The water beneath sparkled and glowed with colors of the rainbow.

Natsy sat down, his legs crossed, and patted a dusty seat, inclining Lucy to sit down.

The sun would set a few minutes now. Less than that was all Lucy needed.

"So, I take it you'll win," she started off.

Natsu looked at her. "What?"

"The bet with Loke," she simply answered.

Natsu looked at her oddly. "You knew?"

She nodded. "Yeah." She bit her lip before pouting, her eyebrows knitting. "But, sheesh! If you had consulted to me about it, I would've made myself look prettier for this!" Natsu looked rather taken aback. "After all, we're nakama, right?"

Natsu shook his head to shake off the confusion. "Yeah, we are. But, Lucy?"

"Hm?"

"Are you disappointed that I asked you out because of that?"

Lucy turned to face him properly. "Well, yes." She felt herself grow redder. "A little bit. But, you know, we're friends. That's more than enough. I don't expect you to say cliche lines from the movies, or those three special words girls would usually want to hear..." her voice trailed off as she realized she was talking too much.

"But you already know them," Natsu muttered under his breath.

"What?"

"Nothing!" Natsu snapped. "I'll make this a great date!" He grabbed Lucy's hand instinctively. "Look! The sun's about to set!" He pointed at the yellow sun that was beginning to set.

Lucy looked in his direction.

The marvelous sight was pleasing to look at. Night would rise as the sun was bowing. Flashes of vivid colors like flames were splattered in the late afternoon sky.

They watched it the breathtaking scenario until the end.

Lucy faced Natsu with a grin. "So where do we go next, Salamander?"

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><p><em>This one-shot is in response to Marshmallow Ninja's Chapter Ten of Dragon Scent.<em>


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